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True Romance follows Clarence and Alabama Worley (Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette), a loner and a prostitute that get married after meeting one night. But when Clarence tries to settle things with Alabama's pimp, they find themselves on the run from both the Mafia and the cops.
This is a film I remember seeing and enjoying back in the 90s, but that for some reason, I hadn't revisited in around 20 years. It also features a huge cast that, even though most of them were not big stars yet, it still makes for an interesting and impressive ensemble. From Dennis Hopper, James Gandolfini and Christopher Walken to Brad Pitt, Gary Oldman, and Michael Rapaport, among many others.
The film is written by Quentin Tarantino and is directed by Tony Scott, and it features both their distinctive trademarks of tense yet cleverly written dialogue, as well as excessive hyper-violence and slow motion action scenes. I found myself enjoying the Tarantino-esque bits of it more than the uber-violent excesses of Scott. The scene between Clarence and Drexl (Oldman) is incredibly tense because of the dialogue, and so is the one between Walken and Hopper. It's a pity that Tarantino and Scott had to rely on racism, though. That "punchline" from Hopper is certainly an unfortunate one.
There does seem to be an overload of subplots that seem to be unnecessary or that don't necessarily pay off, like how Clarence and Alabama end up together, or his hallucinations with Elvis, but the parts that hit, hit extremely well. It also requires a good amount of suspension of disbelief not only to believe that a "nerd loner" like Clarence would have the guts to pull off everything he does, but to do it with the bravura that he does.
That mostly falls on the chemistry between Slater and Arquette, both of which make you believe that such different characters could pair up and end up working together so well. Much like Tarantino and Scott, they learn to work around their differences while balancing each other to work around their flaws, resulting in something "so cool".
Grade:
TRUE ROMANCE
(1993, Scott)
Freebie
(1993, Scott)
Freebie
"If I'm with you, then I'm with you, and I don't want anybody else."
True Romance follows Clarence and Alabama Worley (Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette), a loner and a prostitute that get married after meeting one night. But when Clarence tries to settle things with Alabama's pimp, they find themselves on the run from both the Mafia and the cops.
This is a film I remember seeing and enjoying back in the 90s, but that for some reason, I hadn't revisited in around 20 years. It also features a huge cast that, even though most of them were not big stars yet, it still makes for an interesting and impressive ensemble. From Dennis Hopper, James Gandolfini and Christopher Walken to Brad Pitt, Gary Oldman, and Michael Rapaport, among many others.
The film is written by Quentin Tarantino and is directed by Tony Scott, and it features both their distinctive trademarks of tense yet cleverly written dialogue, as well as excessive hyper-violence and slow motion action scenes. I found myself enjoying the Tarantino-esque bits of it more than the uber-violent excesses of Scott. The scene between Clarence and Drexl (Oldman) is incredibly tense because of the dialogue, and so is the one between Walken and Hopper. It's a pity that Tarantino and Scott had to rely on racism, though. That "punchline" from Hopper is certainly an unfortunate one.
There does seem to be an overload of subplots that seem to be unnecessary or that don't necessarily pay off, like how Clarence and Alabama end up together, or his hallucinations with Elvis, but the parts that hit, hit extremely well. It also requires a good amount of suspension of disbelief not only to believe that a "nerd loner" like Clarence would have the guts to pull off everything he does, but to do it with the bravura that he does.
That mostly falls on the chemistry between Slater and Arquette, both of which make you believe that such different characters could pair up and end up working together so well. Much like Tarantino and Scott, they learn to work around their differences while balancing each other to work around their flaws, resulting in something "so cool".
Grade: